In this episode of The Wilderness Devotional, we walk straight into the ache of being unseen.

We explore what it means that Jesus—the radiant, eternal, glorious Son of God—came into the world… and the world did not recognize Him. Even His own people, the ones He formed in their mother’s wombs, the ones He had come to rescue, turned their backs.

“He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.”— John 1:11

I reflect on the heartbreak Jesus endured… and how that connects with our own stories of rejection.I tell a story from my days as a youth pastor—a teenage girl so filled with boldness for the gospel that she practically dove into a stranger’s car window just to tell them about Jesus. I share how that moment challenged me. Inspired me. Reminded me what we’re doing here.

This episode is for anyone who has ever felt unseen. Overlooked. Rejected.And it’s for anyone who needs to be reminded that Jesus was too… and yet He kept loving.

In this episode of The Wilderness Devotional, we meet a wild, bug-eating, camel-hair-wearing prophet from the desert—John the Baptist.A man so outside the lines of what society called normal, you’d probably scroll past him on Instagram thinking he was some kind of conspiracy guy with dirt under his nails.

And yet… Jesus said this:

“Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist.”— Matthew 11:11

Why?

Because John knew exactly who he was.And more importantly—who he wasn’t.

“He was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.”— John 1:8

He knew it wasn’t about him.He was just there to point to the Light.To prepare the way.

And that’s our job too.Not to be impressive.Not to be center stage.But to become like the moon—shining only because we’ve caught the light of the Son.

- Music provided by Josh White, used with Artist Permission. Please follow Josh White on your music stream service.

In this episode of The Wilderness Devotional, we reflect on one of the most beautiful truths at the center of the universe: Jesus isn’t done with us.

He didn’t just finish His work on the cross and call it a day. He’s still working. Still pursuing. Still healing. Still saving.

“Jesus is eternally and tirelessly bringing everything and everyone together.The energy of reconciliation is the dynamo at the heart of the universe.”— Eugene Peterson

That’s the kind of quote you don’t just read once and move on from. It sits with you.Because if it’s true… then it changes everything.

In this episode, we sit with that truth. We wrestle with the gap between God and humanity—the chasm sin created—and the Bridge that Love built. We reflect on Jesus as the Logos, the message, the Word of God to a broken and fractured world. And we remember that God isn’t in the business of pushing people away. He’s the kind of Father who refuses to rest until His kids come home.

How many of us look in the mirror and struggle to like what we see?

Not just physically—but spiritually. Emotionally. Internally.

In this episode of The Wilderness Devotional, we sit in the uncomfortable reality that many of us spend our lives chasing a version of ourselves that doesn’t even exist. The false self. The idealized projection. The curated persona we show the world while hiding the mess underneath.

We look at a heartbreaking story of a man who was so desperate to become someone else, he physically altered his body to mimic a celebrity—eventually damaging himself in the process. But the truth is… a lot of us do the same thing. Just in quieter ways.

We fill ourselves with things that promise identity but deliver emptiness.We break ourselves trying to become lovable.We leak… because we’ve been patched up with the wrong things.

But Jesus?

Jesus rebuilds.Jesus restores.Jesus makes the broken beautiful again.

What do you do when your world starts to fall apart?

Not the small kind of unraveling—like a flat tire or a bad day at work.I’m talking about when things really fall apart.When the future you counted on slips through your fingers.When the people you love let you down.When your faith feels like it’s cracking at the edges and you’re not sure what’s going to hold it together.

In this episode of The Wilderness Devotional, we return again to the opening words of John’s Gospel… but this time we land on a staggering claim:

“All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”— John 1:3

We’re invited to see Jesus not just as Savior, not just as the Teacher or the Lamb or the Light—but as the Creator, the One through whom the universe exists, the One who holds it all in place.

From atoms to galaxies… from galaxies to your anxieties…He holds it all.

And that means—even when your world feels like it’s falling apart—you’re still in His hands.

Going Deeper

When I was a kid, I used to imagine God as an old man with a beard floating through space.Kind of like Gandalf, but with more thunder.

I imagined He was alone in the void.Quiet.Still.Maybe bored.

But John’s Gospel paints a different picture.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”— John 1:1,3

There was no loneliness.There was relationship.There was Logos—Jesus.And not only was He there, but everything that exists flowed from Him.

Which means your life is not an accident.Your pain is not random.Your story is not a mistake.

There is a Word that spoke you into being.A Creator who designed every fiber of who you are.And when it feels like everything is falling apart, this Creator—Jesus—has not let go.

Let’s get nerdy for a second.

Scientists talk about dark matter—a mysterious, invisible substance that seems to be holding galaxies together. It makes up the majority of the universe’s mass, but we can’t see it, touch it, or fully explain it.

Here’s what physicist William J. Broad wrote:

“A cosmic mystery of immense proportions, once seemingly on the verge of solution, has deepened and left astronomers and astrophysicists more baffled than ever. The crux is that the vast majority of the mass of the universe seems to be missing.”

So there’s something holding everything together…but we don’t know what it is.

And then I think of this quote from Philo, a Hebrew scholar writing about the Logos:

“The Logos of the living God is the bond of everything, holding all things together and binding all the parts, preventing them from being dissolved and separated.”

That’s what John is trying to get at.

Jesus isn’t just the Savior at the end of the story.He’s the glue that’s been holding the story together all along.

“In Him all things hold together.”— Colossians 1:17

When your life feels like it’s slipping through your hands…When your plans are breaking down, and your heart’s breaking with them…When it seems like no one sees, no one understands, no one is coming to fix it…

Jesus is there.Not just with you, but holding you.Not just aware of your chaos, but intimately involved.

The same hands that hold galaxies in place… hold your grief.The same voice that spoke light into the void… speaks peace over your storm.

Devotional: A Prayer for the Days You’re Falling Apart

Jesus,Sometimes it feels like I’m holding my life together with duct tape and leftover hope.Like everything could unravel at any moment.Like I’m one bad day away from breaking.

But then You remind me—I’m not the one holding everything together.

You are.

You were there before the world began.You were there when I took my first breath.You’ve been there in every dark valley,Even when I didn’t feel it.Even when I forgot.

So I give You my broken pieces.I give You the weight I’m tired of carrying.I give You the fears I’ve buried deep.I give You the questions with no answers.

Hold them, Lord.Hold me.

You are the bond.The thread.The center.

When everything falls apart…You are the One who never will.

Amen.

What is the meaning of life?

Big question, I know. But it’s one we’ve all asked in some form.

What’s the point of all this?

Why am I here?

What does it all mean?

And maybe deeper still—what does God think about me?

In this episode of The Wilderness Devotional, we sit with the opening line of John’s Gospel, a passage that shaped how the early church saw Jesus… and how we’re meant to see Him too.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

— John 1:1

But for many of us, this verse doesn’t feel clear—it feels cryptic. What is “the Word”? Is it the Bible? A concept? A Greek term lost to time?

I share how, as a kid, I pictured a giant flying Bible flapping its leather wings across space. That was my understanding of “the Word.”

But over time, I came to see something far deeper, far more beautiful. Something that changed my whole view of what God is actually saying.

This episode is for anyone confused by the chaos of Scripture, or the silence of God.

It’s for the one who’s asking: If God could just say one thing to me… what would it be?

What if no one ever really saw you?

Not just physically—but fully.

Not just your face, but your heart.

Not just your name, but your soul.

What if your whole life, you felt like a shadow in the background?

A blur in the crowd?

What if you were never known—never truly known—by anyone?

In this episode of The Wilderness Devotional, we reflect on one of the most powerful, humbling truths in the Gospel of John:

“No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.”

— John 1:18

Jesus… makes God known.

Visible. Touchable. Real.

The invisible God becomes seeable through the Son.

And in doing so, Jesus also shows us this:

You are seen—deeply and personally—by the God who made you.

Even when no one else seems to notice.

"Thank You, father. This calamity is not the first one You've seen, nor will it be the last. You've seen so much more than we can comprehend. You've been fighting this battle since before we were born. You are relentlessly fighting against the enemy, relentlessly protecting and preserving Your people, relentlessly reaching out to the lost and pulling them into the safe place where even though the body may be destroyed, the soul lives on forever. 

Lord, we don't understand Your timing. If we're honest, our hearts cry out. We say, God, can't You just snap Your fingers and make this go away? Can't You just fix the problem in a blink of an eye? Why must we suffer? How long, Oh Lord?

And yet we remind ourselves time after time again: this is the story that You're telling. You've allowed us to be a part of it, and every chapter of the story indicates and points to us the truth: that You are good and You never fail, that You do everything You do for a reason."

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The Wilderness Devotional is a short-form podcast by Aaron Salvato and The GoodLion Podcast Network that is here to provide you with small moments to re-center yourself on Christ as you wander through the wilderness of life. Each episode includes a devotional message, as well as atmospheric prompts at the end to help you pray and meditate on the way of Jesus.

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No human has actually ever really seen what God looks like, but Jesus has made God known and visible. That's amazing. Because of Jesus... you can see God. We don't see Him with our eyes. We see Him with our heart. We can see God. We get to see His entire heart, His entire person, His entire purpose.

Jesus, the true light which gives light to everyone... was coming into the world, and yet the world did not know Him. His own people did not receive him. Imagine the pain of being rejected by your family, your friends, your people. Jesus suffered this rejection for us, and He is near to us in our own times of feeling rejected.